I'm sorry if the time in here is weird. I tried not to make time too specific because it'll get confusing. So the only thing I'm specifying is the whether it's night or day. Enjoy and comment! Constructive criticism is always welcomed!
Disclaimer: I own neither Young Justice nor Heroes Of Olympus.
Percy didn't know if spraying the window with water would make a rainbow, but this time he got lucky. He threw a drachma into the multi-colored window and it sunk in.
"Woah." Wally said in awe behind him. Percy could hear the crunch of the Chicken Whizzies he was eating.
Percy smiled at him, "I know right."
"So you just speak into it and you can talk to anyone?" Wally asked.
"Yup, no signal required. But first you've gotta say: 'Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering.' Then you say a name or a place, like Annabeth Chase."
Annabeth's scowling face appeared on the window. "What's wrong?"
"Does everytime I call you have to mean something's wrong?" Percy asked. Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him.
"Okay fine, we had to leave Nico, Hazel, Superboy, and Zatanna in Thebes." he said as fast as he possibly could.
Truth be told, Annabeth wasn't that angry, in fact she was pretty calm. "It makes sense, you'll get the job done faster by splitting up."
"Cool," Percy said as he let out a sigh of relief. Believe it or not, Percy doesn't enjoy getting Annabeth upset, he values her happiness. Percy looked into Annabeth's eyes and realized that there were bags under them and they were bloodshot. "Hey, what time is it there?"
Annabeth yawned, "Late. We're still at their HQ. We stayed behind to do some research on the League, King Orin and Diana are here with us."
"What kind of research?" Wally asked, standing next to Percy so they were both in Annabeth's view.
"Nothing too intense. Leo and I are working more on figuring out these Inhibitor Collars. Reyna and Frank are checking out the JLA, since they know literally nothing about it. We can't go into a meeting blind."
"What meeting?" Robin popped out of nowhere, startling both Percy and Wally.
Annabeth didn't look phased, "I think the Necklace of Harmonia might work as something like an olive branch."
"Just because you give them a peace treaty doesn't mean they'll automatically not hate you." Wally said.
"Plus the necklace is cursed, like, it's responsible for a lot of deaths. I don't it will give us any good luck." Percy added.
"That's why you've got to get it uncursed." Annabeth said, "We hope that it'll create a magical aura of harmony and peace, so that when we talk to them they won't try to kill us."
"Um, how do we do that?" Robin asked.
"According to the prophecy the other guys are supposed to meet a goddess in Italy. Maybe if they ask really, really nicely they'll do you a solid."
Percy frowned, "Thanks Annie, that really helps."
"Your welcome." she smiled. Her smiled slipped when there was a loud crash behind her. "No Leo! I told you not cut the green wire! I'll call you guys later. Leo no!" Just as she said that the IM cut off.
"We should probably call the others and tell them what's going on." Percy said to the heroes as he took another drachma out of his pocket..
"I'll handle this one." Robin said, taking the golden coin from his hand, "This Iris Message thing is kinda cool."
"Go for it man. They probably aren't out of Greece yet so don't give them a hard time." he said to the younger boy as he grabbed the same spray bottle Percy used on the window.
"You know, we could've at least dropped them off in Italy." Wally said.
Percy shrugged, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure they'll figure out. They need to learn how to be independent anyway." In reality Percy had completely forgot the Italy was actually that far away. Percy realized that he was getting really forgetful lately, but with all that's been going on it's okay to forget sometimes.
Artemis took a seat next to Percy and KF on the floor of the ship. After stealing some of Wally's Chicken Whizzies she asked him a question. "I know your dad is Poseidon, but who's Annabeth's parent?"
"Annabeth is the daughter of Athena." Percy answered, "The goddess of war."
"And wisdom." Robin added as he sat down too.
"That explains why she's so…" Wally trailed off.
Jason interrupted his own conversation with Aqualad to tell Wally the word he was looking for was terrifying. "Hey," Percy said, "That's my girlfriend you're talking about."
"What about the other two?" Raquel asked, "Reyna and Frank."
"Ar- Mars and Bellona. Who are also gods of wars." Percy said.
"Great, we have three children of war gods trying to make peace." Raquel said.
Wally popped another Chicken Whizzie into his mouth, "Oh, the irony."
"We'll be landing soon." M'gann said cheerily from the front of the ship.
Percy sighed and hoped that they wouldn't meet any war gods in Delphi.
-(Line Break)-
The Bio-Ship was parked right outside of some ruins, everyone got off the ship since they put it in stealth mode. The ruins were similar to the ones in Thebes, the only difference was the giant amphitheater.
"Woah." It was the only thing that Wally could say as he looked down on what might have been a beautiful sight in its prime.
"What was that?" Artemis's face contorted into an expression of disgust.
"What was what?" M'gann asked her.
"Everyone shut up for a second." Artemis whispered. Once there was silence, Percy could hear it. It was like a never ending roar-like moan. Like a lion that was in extreme pain.
Wally raised his eyebrows, "What the heck is that?"
"That," Kaldur said pointing to the amphitheater, "Is what's making the sound."
"I don't see anything." Wally said, squinting his eyes. Artemis rolled her own and pointed at his goggles. He put them on and stared at the same spot, "Oh wait, I see it now."
Percy looked to where he was pointing and noticed that there was someone at the bottom. "Well, I guess we should check it out."
Jason smiled then chuckled, "Hopefully this won't be your first monster." No one shared Jason's amusement, but followed him down the amphitheater anyway.
Percy was more that surprised to see a familiar face when they got to the bottom. "Lord Apollo?" The sun god sat on the floor playing an odd-looking instrument that Percy vaguely remembered. "Um… Lord Apollo." Still, the god didn't answer. He just looked sadly at his instrument before taking another large breath so he could blow into it again. Percy spoke more firmly this time, "Fred."
Apollo looked up with a startled expression, "Oh, it's you Percy. You must've gotten the prophecy."
Jason and Percy looked at each other, Apollo just proved that he really did send the prophecy, "No offense Lord Apollo, but what are you doing here?" Jason asked.
Apollo put down his odd instrument and stood. "I've been temporarily exiled by my father. Sometimes, Zeus can be a real pain the-" There was a loud clap of thunder and a flash of lightning, probably a warning from the king of the gods himself.
"Funny that you're here Lord Apollo," Percy said to him, "We're actually looking for something, maybe you can help us."
Apollo looked behind Percy and Jason, then looked back at them. He waved for them to come closer and whispered, "I would help you guys out but those are not the kind of mortals I was expecting you to bring." he glanced back at the heroes, "One of them is green." Apollo must have been a terrible whisperer because M'gann blushed and changed her skin tone so she looked caucasian.
Jason looked like he was going to laugh, "It's fine, they're cool."
Apollo shrugged, "Whatever you say. So I imagine you're here for the chain" Percy nodded, he wasn't surprised that Apollo already knew their intentions.
"Follow me I'll show you right to it." Apollo said. Percy and Jason exchanged looks of excitement, Apollo was going to show them right to the gem. But what would be the cost? Gods never do anything for free, no matter how nice they are.
The sun god took about ten steps towards the center of the amphitheater before stopping. "Here it is." he said with a bright smile on his face. He pointed to the stone tile in the center of the bottom floor.
"Um… what's here, Lord Apollo?" Percy asked.
"The chain! From the necklace. More specifically it's under here." His foot tapped the circular tile. "But I can't seem to get it open without the key."
Jason raised a brow, "The key?"
"Yes, the key! Don't you see that hole in the middle of the tile." Percy looked down the small hole, it was about the thickness of his index finger but endlessly deep. "I need the key to open it but it's in Dodona and I can't leave this place. That's why you're going to get it for me."
"We are?" Percy asked.
"Yeah, so I can get my- I mean, so you can get your chain." the god said nervously. Percy narrowed his eyes. Apollo obviously has some ulterior motives.
"Okay that sounds good." Percy said suspiciously. "All we have to do is go to Dodona and get the key, right?"
Apollo looked excited, "Yes, that's all you have to do. But there's a catch."
"What kind of catch?"
"A few of you have to stay here." Apollo looked at the crowd of teens behind the two demigods. "You two and… you, come here." Robin and Kaldur moved towards the god followed by a hesitant Raquel. "Oh and Jason you should probably stay too."
Jason looked up at the god, "So what are we supposed to do?"
"I'll explain that later, as soon as the rest of you get going." he shooed the remaining teens, Percy, M'gann, Wally, and Artemis, away from the amphitheater. He even walked them up to the Bio-Ship. "Cool chariot." he said, knowing it was there without it being taken out of stealth mode.
"Shouldn't we leave them some supplies or something?" Percy asked him.
"I'll handle that, don't worry about it." the god said nonchalantly, "You should hurry along. The sooner I get my- I mean sooner you get that chain the better, right?" Apollo then laughed anxiously, which made Percy narrow his eyes at him. What was the god really up to?
"Try to be back in… three days, maybe? I don't know, who cares. Just try not to die." he smiled and winked at them.
"Um… thanks?" Wally said uncertainly.
"No problem," he patted Wally on the back, "Maybe I should give you a good luck haiku?"
Percy tried to stop him, "There's no need for that-"
"To retrieve a key
Young heroes on a journey
I am so cool."
"Thanks, Lord Apollo."
"No problem, Percy! Good luck." Apollo rushed them into the Bio-Ship and waved at them as they flew off.
The remaining four teens sat in silence for a few minutes before Wally broke it, "So… was it just me or did he use four syllables instead of five in the last line."
"No, h-he does that sometimes."
-(Line Break)-
"Where is Dodona?" M'gann asked Percy.
"It's next to a small greek village, Dodoni, in Epris."
"Roger, that." M'gann said cheerily.
"Dodona is one of the three other Oracles that weren't Delphi." Percy said.
"There are more people like Rachel?" Wally asked.
"No, not anymore, Delphi got so popular that the other Oracles became outdated. But there used to be four in total: Phthiotis, Lebadeia, Dodona, and Delphi. Dondona was the second most popular Oracle right after Delphi."
"How do you know all of that?" Artemis asked.
"We have a class back in camp where we learned about all the old Oracles. It was usually taught by Will and the other children of Apollo, but Rachel helps out too."
"Will's dad is Apollo?" M'gann said, "I'm not that surprised, they look a lot alike."
"That also explains why he didn't freak out when Rachel opened up that prophecy thing." Wally said.
"I just assumed that he'd seen it before, but that makes more sense." Percy said, scratching his chin.
"Did Apollo send the prophecy himself so we could get whatever is under that tile?" he asked.
Percy thought for a second, "Seems like it. Whatever's under there must be a way for him to get off the island."
"I don't see why Apollo intentions matter so much," M'gann said, "When we get the key we'll have the chain and Apollo will have whatever he wants."
Percy and Wally glanced at each other and the demigod gave him a shrug. Percy decided to listen to the martian girl and not worry too much about what Apollo is up to. Who knows, maybe if they get the key to him in record time they'll get a reward. For the rest of the trip they ceased speaking of Apollo all together. Percy instead helped direct M'gann to Dodona by using landmarks.
When the ship landed the sun was already setting. The ruins of Dodona seemed identical to those in Delphi in the light of the setting sun, "Do you think it's safe to be out here at this time?" Wally asked.
Percy laughed, "What? Are you scared?"
"No! Of course not! I'm never scared!"
Artemis brushed past him on her way down to the amphitheater, "Big words from a small man." M'gann just laughed and followed her friend down to the arena.
The teens spread out and searched the ruins. Finding nothing but cobwebs, crumbling ruins, and the occasional rabid squirrel. They met back up in the middle of the amphitheater. "So none of us found anything?" Percy asked. Everyone shook their head.
Percy rubbed his face and sighed. M'gann touched his shoulder, seeing how tired he was. "We should get some rest and search again in the morning."
Wally yawned and started walking back towards the ship, "That's the best idea I've heard all day."
The rest of the teens started following him but Percy stopped for a second. He stared past the gathering of trees and saw what he thought was a temple. "Hey, guys, wait a second. There's something I want to check out." Wally made a frustrated sound but stayed in place with the girls.
Percy walked between the oak trees until he faced what looked like a temple. The temple's marble columns were wrapped in vines and what would have been pristine white was now a dirty grey. Percy uncapped Riptide and walked into the old temple, it was larger on the inside than he thought. The moonlight shone through the temple making it seem eerie. The light bounced directly off of something shiny and into Percy's eyes.
He walked towards the shiny object on the floor and picked it up out of the rubble and was surprised to see it was a lightning bolt. "Oh no, please don't let this be…" He moved the rocks away from the floor and revealed a nameplate with Zeus written in ancient Greek.
"Of course, out of all the gods Dodona's patron had to be you!" Percy yelled, hoping the god would and wouldn't hear him at the same time. He sighed and decided it would be best if he made his way back to the others. As soon as he took his first step forward his head collided with a cold hard object.
With his head spinning and the darkness Percy had a hard time clearly seeing what he crashed into. Once his vision cleared, Percy had barely stopped himself from screaming. Right in front of his face was a bronze statue of a snake four times the length of his body and twice his thickness. It looked so real and sinister, like it might come to life any second. Percy slowly reached out and touched it and immediately felt as if he did something wrong.
Percy slowly stepped back behind a pillar as the snake's scales gradually turned from a rusted bronze to a lively green. Starting at it's tail and moving up towards its face until it was completely green. Luckily the snake didn't see him, it looked around for what had awaken it but saw nothing and slithered out of the temple. Percy sighed in relief then suddenly realized that the snake leaving was just as bad as it eating him.
Running out from the temple, he made his way back to the amphitheater. The superheroes were still standing in the same places as they were when he left them. While hidden in the oak trees, Percy didn't see the snake anywhere in sight. Then something caught his sight, in the bushes right behind Wally something was a much brighter green than the rest of the leaves.
Percy broke through the trees, "Wally watch out!" Just as he said that the snake pounced. It was a good thing the Wally was one of the fastest people alive, he easily dodged the snake's attack. But he was so startled that he ran into Artemis, knocking her down. They both laid there trying to catch their breath for a second too long, enough time for the snake to launch another attack. Percy knew he wouldn't be fast enough to get there in time, but ran towards them anyway. M'gann, on the other hand, was already prepared. Just before the snake bit into her friends she telekinetically picked up and dropped a large boulder on the snake's head, crushing it with a nasty squish.
All the teens took a second to process what happened. "What the heck was that?" Wally screamed.
"I think it was a really big snake," Percy said with a laugh, "Nice job M'gann."
"It's no-" M'gann didn't get the chance to be humble because the tail of the snake smacked her out of the air.
"M'gann!" Artemis yelled. She tried to run over to her but the snake's body blocked her path. All of the demolished parts of the snake's head slowly began reattaching themselves to the its body.
Percy went around the large body of the snake and grabbed M'gann, who was starting to get her second wind. "We've got to go, now!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Wally said as he grabbed Artemis and ran over to the Bio-Ship.
Now that two of his friends were safe, Percy could focus on M'gann. "Sorry about your head but we've gotta get out of here."
"Understood." she said groggily as she tried to get up. The duo was now ready to move but it was too late, the serpent's head was now completely reattached and it was ready to attack. Knowing better than to attack with its head again, the serpent lifted its tail and slapped it against the ground near them, as if this was a warning smack. Percy didn't take that warning for granted and tried making his way towards the stairs that lead to the Bio-Ship, but the tail slapped down on the ground in front of him.
With the second slap cracks began appearing in the ground, Percy sucked his teeth in annoyance more than fear. "Can you fly?"
"If I try hard enough. But I don't know if I can carry you."
"That's fine just go back to the ship, start it up, and come and get me."
"But-"
"It's fine, just do it!" M'gann didn't try to argue anymore. She flew over the snake, high enough so it wouldn't reach her, and flew towards the Bio-Ship.
"Okay big guy, it's just you and me." The serpent accepted his challenge and pounced at him. Percy rolled to the side to avoid it's teeth, instead the fangs sunk into the ground making more cracks appear. The snake freed itself and smacked it's tail towards Percy one last time, the half-blood succeeded in rolling away.
But with this last attack the floor broke apart and started collapsing in on itself. Percy tried to regain his balance but slipped into the chasm. The fall was enough to remind him of something he was hoping that he would never have to relive, thankfully he hit something much faster than the last time. Sadly, it was the cold hard ground. The impact knocked the wind out of him and his consciousness started to fade as he heard something slither towards him.
-(Line Break)-
Percy blinked twice, trying to believe what he was seeing. The snake was no longer with him and he stood high above the ground and watched as Zatanna slowly tucked in her knees to her chest. She laid in fetal position on the muddy ground with Nico, who was also in curled up, not too far from her. Both looked to be in deep sleep, their chests were barely moving.
Percy could sense that something was horribly wrong and tried yell for them to wake up, but no sound came from his mouth. Just when he thought he'd be watching Zatanna and Nico die, three golden horses ran out from nowhere and made the situation worse. They walked after one another in a line and began surrounding the two teens in a circle.
The horses prance around the duo silently, they continuously got closer and closer to them. The closer they were the more compact Nico and Zatanna tried to make themselves. Nico slowly rolled over, still having his body in a tight ball, and out of his balled up fist fell three pomegranate seeds.
Nico and Zatanna continued fold in on themselves, more so than Percy thought could be humanly possible. But suddenly, Zatanna's body began to unravel and a shimmering aura of some unknown substance began to surround her. The tentacle-like branches reached out and touched Nico, making his body unravel as well. The substance reached as far as the horses and made them stop walking.
Just as things started looking up for the two teens a dark shadow loomed over them all, even Percy. The son of Poseidon tried to look above himself to see the castor of the silhouette but the scene changed abruptly.
This time he was at ground level and in at least a foot of water. The air was musty making it obvious that he was closed off from the outside, maybe underground. He was standing in front of three dark cave-like entrances and Zatanna and Hazel happened to be standing in front of him. The girls talked for a second, then hugged each other, and both went into a different cave.
Percy took a second to decide who to follow and chased after Zatanna. The magician walked for a bit the abruptly stopped and looked around nervously. Percy walked around her to see why she stopped but all he saw was the darkness of the cave. He tried to shake her awake but nothing affected her, she stood there in the same spot with a look of pure terror on her face.
The second time Percy tried to touch her, he was transported to another cave where the water was filled up to the top. Being the son of Poseidon he had no problem with breathing but he saw another body struggling in the water. To his surprise it was, Hazel. Her feet were sunken into the ground and her cinnamon brown hair was splayed around her head. Percy tried to reach out to her but couldn't move from the spot he stood in, he looked down at his feet and realized that he was stuck in the ground too.
He and Hazel tried to reach for each other but their arms wouldn't stretch any more. Just as Hazel's fingers touched his own she went limp, and her unmoving body was left to float in the water.
So I solved my problem, I needed to split Percy and Jason up too so there wouldn't be too much of Percy overshadowing him because I'm not a Jason hater. Now everyone's in three groups of four and can get equal attention.
Comment if you enjoyed this! A new chapter will be up hopefully next week!